HMS Illustrious moored in Portsmouth Harbour
HMS Illustrious moored in Portsmouth Harbour flying the white ensign on the stern. HMS Illustrious is the second of three Invincible-class light aircraft carriers built for the Royal Navy in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She is the fifth warship and second aircraft carrier to bear the name Illustrious, and is affectionately known to her crew as "Lusty". In 1982, the conflict in the Falklands necessitated that Illustrious be completed and rushed south to join her sisters HMS Invincible and HMS Hermes. To this end, she was brought forward by three months for completion at Swan Hunter Shipyard, then commissioned on 20 June 1982 at sea en-route to Portsmouth Dockyard to take on board extra stores and crew. She arrived in the Falklands to relieve Invincible on 28 August 1982 in a steam past. Returning to the UK, she was not formally commissioned into the fleet until 20 March 1983. After the Falklands War, she was deployed Operation Southern Watch in Iraq, then Operation Deny Flight in Bosnia during the 1990s and Operation Palliser in Sierra Leone in 2000. An extensive re-fit during 2002 prevented her from involvement in the 2003 Iraq War, but she was repaired in time to assist British citizens trapped by the 2006 Lebanon War.
Size: 5130px × 3407px
Photo credit: © Robert Wilkinson / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: aircraft, battleship, carrier, dockyard, harbour, historic, hms, illustrious, invincible-class, moored, navy, port, portsmouth, royal, ship, uk
